Friday 13 November 2009 14.06 EST
First published on Friday 13 November 2009 14.06 EST

Rafael Nadal ended the Paris Masters run of the defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals to help his fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco book his spot at the ATP World Tour Finals.

Tsonga needed to retain his title to deny Verdasco a place at the eight-man tournament in London later this month but found Nadal far too consistent and fell to a 7-5, 7-5 defeat.

Verdasco, who lost in the third round of the Paris tournament, joins Roger Federer, Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Juan Martín del Potro, Andy Roddick and Nikolay Davydenko at the London event.

Nadal struggled in his first two matches, saving five match points against Nicolas Almágro before edging out Tommy Robredo, but his form was much improved today. The 23-year-old faces Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals tomorrow after the third seed also did his bit for Verdasco's cause.

Djokovic was a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 winner against Robin Soderling, who would have moved into this year's top eight by reaching the final in Bercy. Soderling frequently looked the better player against Djokovic but the world No3 dug in and a break in the eighth game of the decider put him on course for victory.

The Swede dominated the second set and created 14 break points on his opponent's serve during the match but took only three of them. Djokovic admitted he was not at his best and was relieved to reach the last four after a fifth successive victory against Soderling.

He said: "I'm very pleased to go through, it was a big struggle. Mostly I was fighting myself today. In the second set I was not moving well and I was letting him control the match but in the end I managed to hold the nerves and focus."

Nadal and Djokovic have met 19 times, with the Spaniard holding a clear lead at 14-5. However, Djokovic won their last match in Cincinnati in August for the loss of only five games.

The home crowd had something to cheer later in the day when Gaël Monfils recovered from a set down to beat Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

"It's great to win in France like this," Monfils said. "I fought and competed very well. I am in the semi-finals, so I am very happy now and I hope I am not finished here."

Asked about the key to turning the match around, Monfils added: "I was a little too defensive but I tried to be more aggressive and move him a little bit more but the main thing was the belief in myself."

Monfils will face Radek Stepanek in the semi-finals. Stepanek was 4-0 up on Del Potro, the world No5, in the last of the day's quarter-finals when the Argentinian was forced to retire with what looked like a stomach injury.